CMS: ICD-10 ‘interim final date’ still pending

Those looking for a firm date for ICD-10 implementation won’t find it in a recent statement from CMS.

In an online newsletter, CMS announced that “the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services expects to release an interim final rule in the near future that will include a new compliance date that would require the use of ICD-10 beginning Oct. 1, 2015. The rule will also require HIPAA-covered entities to continue to use ICD-9-CM through Sept. 30, 2015.”

An “interim” rule is probably not what skeptics want to hear. The question of credibility surrounding the reliability of a final date for implementation was the subject of much discussion during the morning session of the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange summit on the ICD-10 delay in Reston, Va. on April 30. Health insurers and others fear that without a confirmed date for implementation, physicians, vendors and other stakeholders may not make a strong commitment to putting the coding system in place. If providers and payers are not using the same system at the same time, it is uncertain how discrepancies will create difficulty in filing or approving health insurance claims.

The newsletter also announced that the July ICD-10 end-to-end testing was canceled. The testing was to consist of a sample group of providers who would participate in testing with Medicare Administrative Contractors and the Common Electronic Data Interchange contractor. Additional testing is planned for 2015, but specific dates were not provided.